


The Little Things

by ifeelbetter



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:00:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifeelbetter/pseuds/ifeelbetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's April Fool's Day and somehow Stiles seems to be celebrating all wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Little Things

**Author's Note:**

> Another prompt fill, this time from [hasagoodhome](http://hasagoodhome.tumblr.com/): "Stilinski bonding rituals."

When Derek woke up on the first of April, somebody had swept the floor of his burned out kitchen. And though he hated the comparison to dogs, his head tilted in an unmistakably dog-like manner as he stared at the floor. He took a deep breath through his nose and—yep, Stiles. 

He called Scott because Scott’s pack was Scott’s responsibility.

“Why has Stiles been sweeping my house?” he demanded when Scott picked up.

“Oh is it April Fool’s already?” Scott mumbled sleepily. “I guess he included you this time. That’s nice.”

And then Scott hung up.

It had been a while since Derek had had to think about April Fool’s Day, but surely he wasn’t so out of touch that he had forgotten what it meant. Weren’t you supposed to pull pranks on April Fool’s Day, not….sweep?

He glared at the “Call ended” on his phone.

***

Boyd was looming at Scott’s locker when he got to school.

“Scott,” he said. “If you have something to say to the pack, don’t send Stiles to my house at the asscrack of dawn. You talk to me yourself.”

“I didn’t _send_ Stiles anywhere,” Scott protested. “It’s just April Fool’s Day. What, did he leave you cookies?”

Boyd’s glared intensified. “Yes,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Chocolate chip?” Scott asked.

“No,” Boyd said. There was a pause. “I don’t like chocolate.”

“Oh,” Scott said and grinned. “That’s good, then.”

***

Erica and Isaac slid into the seats across from and beside Scott. Stiles had lunch detention with Harris so it was nice to have company.

“Seriously, though,” Erica said, stealing one of Scott’s fries, “is this a negotiation tactic? Do you want to open some sort of diplomatic talks between the packs?”

“What?” Scott asked, trying to swat her away, “no! Why would you think that?”

Isaac stole a fry from under his arm as he swatted ineffectually at Erica. “Duh,” he said, “because Stiles was at everyone’s house this morning.”

“That’s not, like, a _pack_ thing, though,” Scott explained, his brow furrowing. “That’s a _Stiles_ thing.”

“Has no one ever explained how April Fool’s Day works to him?” Isaac asked.

“Is this, like, a double bluff? Is he lulling us into a false sense of security so we don’t question the real prank when it happens later?” Erica asked.

“Look, it’s not _my_ thing either,” Scott said. “Ask Stiles if you want to know, but I don’t think it’s my place to go around talking about it.”

He got up to leave but turned around.

“He, um,” he said, obviously embarrassed, “he did my laundry this morning. It’s usually just me and his dad, you know, but I guess, this year—look, just _ask him_.”

***

“OK, before you ask,” Stiles said when Derek climbed in his window that night, “it’s a Stilinski thing, right? It just is, it’s nothing remarkable, we don’t need to talk about it.”

Derek glowered.

“I get it, you don’t want me in your space or whatever,” Stiles said, raising his hands like he was surrendering. “Won’t happen again.”

“I just—” Derek said and then seemed to hate the taste of the words because he made a face like he’d just sucked on a lemon. “It was a nice….gesture.”

Stiles blinked.

“But I don’t get it,” Derek continued, frowning.

Stiles sighed.

“I should have known you’d drop the sullen silent routine just in time for today,” he said, resigned. “Look, when I was little I loved pranks, alright? And my mom made up this game for April Fool’s Day to try to keep me out of trouble after I turned my entire kindergarten class blue the year before.”

Stiles fidgeted nervously, chewing on a pen cap.

“She said it was the next level up from pranking or something, I don’t even remember,” he continued. “But it’s just a thing now, OK? I do a nice thing for all the people I ca—for the people I know. It’s how me and my mom did April Fool’s Day, it’s how me and my dad do it now.”

Derek leaned against the corner of the desk. “It’s a nice tradition,” he said slowly, carefully.

“Yeah, she always liked it,” Stiles agreed.

“You can—” Derek started and then coughed awkwardly. “You’re welcome to—you can be in my house. If you want to.”

Stiles smiled.

“Thanks.”


End file.
